God's Kingdom: A Novel

by Howard Frank Mosher

Howard Frank Mosher is one of America's most acclaimed writers. His fiction, set in the world of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, chronicles the intertwining family histories of the natives, wanderers, outcasts, and fugitives--white, Native American, escaped slaves fleeing north, French Canadians, and others--who settled in this remote and beautiful place.
God's Kingdom explores the Kinneson family through the coming of age of the heir, Jim, and its rich and complicated history. Earnest and innocent, a bright high school student, Jim grows curious about the unspoken "trouble in the family" that haunts his father, a small-town newspaper editor, and his grandfather, a raconteur who keeps the Kinnesons' secrets to himself. Layer by layer, tale by tale, sorting out fact from deliberately obscured legend, Jim explores the Kinnesons' long relationship with others in the Kingdom, culminating in a discovery that forever changes his life and place in that world. Beginning with a magical Thanksgiving Day hunting trip in the autumn mountains, and ending with Jim on the brink of leaving home to find life-and perhaps love-on the other side of the ridge, God's Kingdom unfolds with the patient delight of a master storyteller.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Coming Of Age, Novels, Theology, Literary Fiction, Historical

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2015

About the author

Howard Frank Mosher was an American author. Over the course of his career, Mr. Mosher published 12 novels, two memoirs and countless essays and book reviews. In addition, his last work of fiction, points North will be published by St. Martin's press in the winter of 2018.

Mosher was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1979. A Stranger In the Kingdom won the New England Book Award for Fiction in 1991, and was later filmed by director Jay Craven. In 2006, Mosher received the Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2011 he was awarded the New England Independent Booksellers Association's President's Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Reviews

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Someone, perhaps Samuel Clemens, said that every story begins with a stranger coming to town or with a man or a woman going on a journey. Certainly this definition holds true for most of the best stories of God’s Kingdom, from the arrival of Charles Kinneson I onward.”
PLINY’S HISTORY

This is the story of a town, of its’ people, a coming-of-age story of a young aspiring writer, James Kinneson, III, a story set in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, beginning in the 1950s. The area is rich in history and family lore, and in the many legends that abide in an area so remote, an area as beautiful as it is wild, where once-upon-a-time escaped slaves fled through this area to the hopeful safety of Canada. Stories you may or may not find in the history books, but you’ll hear them whispered all your life if you’re lucky enough to grow up there.

God’s Kingdom. A wild and beautiful place, a place that seems untouched by time and the history of man. And yet, the personal histories of these families are so imbedded in this place, and this time with these people whose ancestors began their lives there so long ago that the history of this place begins with the resident’s ancestors. A place where the same families have lived there so long that everyone knows more than just their names, they know everyone else’s past, and their present.

This story begins as young Jim is setting out on his first deer hunt, a ritual for fourteen year-old boys to be “blooded” with his first successful hunt. Much of this is more about the camaraderie of the generations of men gathered to join in, to pay witness to this rite of passage, the campground and the “remember when’s” the night before. It is also a rite-of-passage story of a young man who discovers a side of himself he wasn’t prepared to uncover.

The stories of the families and the history of God’s Kingdom unravel over time and are intertwined with the words of the Rev. Dr. Pliny Templeton, a former, escaped slave, a Civil War Chaplain and the founder of the Kingdom Common Academy. Templeton’s words are quotes selected from his “The Ecclesiastical, Natural, Social, and Political History of Kingdom County.” So much a part of this story and this place are part of Templeton, so that when he died, he bequeathed his skeleton to the Academy, where it hangs.

There’s so much about this story that speaks of the everyday way of life, the baseball games, the blessing of having grandparents close by, of life in a small town in the 1950s. There’s another side that speaks around the stories of the past, the unraveling of the history of his family, and of Templeton’s family and the town itself. The town itself has a presence that seems almost as though it is a character itself, a benevolent ancestor looking over his land, his people, sharing their joy, and their sorrow.

There are tales that will break your heart, and some that will bring a smile to your face, because that’s the way life is. Tears are shed. Smiles eventually return.

When I saw that Howard Frank Mosher has a book due to be released late this coming January, I decided I wanted to get a sense of some of his "older"stories, to get a sense of his prior work before I read his “Points North,” his last. I am so very glad I did, this was such a terrific introduction.


Many thanks, once again, to the Public Library system for the loan of this book!

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

"God's Kingdom", takes place in the little known mountains of northern Vermont near the
Canadian border. The regional imagery inspires the magnificent storytelling....and the
storytelling inspiring the beauty of the land.

"Just Ahead, Second-Largest covered Bridge in the World" ......
"Jim read the historical marker beside the entrance of the bridge:
"This covered bridge over the upper Connecticut River was built by James Kinneson
in 1789. In 1812, 'Abolition Jim' rallied a contingent of local loggers, Trappers,
Abenaki Indians, and farmers and declared Independence of 'God's Kingdom' from
Vermont and the United States over the issue of slavery. In 1842, in a day long battle at this bridge, James and eight of his fellow secessionists were killed by federal soldiers sent from Boston to put down the insurrection, and Kingdom County was duly reincorporated into America".

Jumping years ahead --- from the above history posted on that bridge... White settlers returned
to this "little known" territory in Vermont-- called "God's Kingdom", to do penance for having
killed the Indians.

If you are like me... you'll be crying at times... laughing at other times .... Soooo in Love with
*Jim*, the narrator ... his Gramps, ... his family .. 'the ongoing 'stories' being told.
Emotions will be twirling ...while tasting the freshness in the air, imagining the rivers, the lakes the deer hunting, the fly fishing, camping, the baseball playing, teenage boys binge drinking,
( although Jim never like to drink), The trading post, the whiskey distillery, ... and the
incredible specialness of the father- son- 'FAMILY & SON', bonding!

Jim, himself, was the type of character/narrator that had my heart so fully, ... because, my God,
if I had a son, I could never ask for a more exceptional human being. I think any parent reading this book, will melt with inspiration by this 'entire' family ... but especially Jim.


This book is filled with adventure... Some graphic visuals... Not all are pleasant..( there is one scene when Jim is in algebra class with his friend, when that is going pull at your heart and soul in ways your own blood could boil). Other types of disturbing scenes, that are different than in the classroom, you know intellectually it's horrific, but you might find yourself laughing at the same time. I think it's a human reaction. Things are funny and heartbreaking. Mostly .. Think the entire book is endearing.
I'm hesitating when I say this ... ( so I hope my friends and readers will take this the it right way)--- This is THE BEST DUDE BOOK ...THAT WOMEN WILL EQUALLY ENJOY!!!

The following quote is one I liked...( there are MANY I could have chosen)...
but I'm going to share this one ... Because it brought back a lot of warm feelings for me:
"From the time Jim started school, Gram Took him on the train to the Saturday matinees at the old Paramount Theater in Memphremagog, particularly when a new mystery was playing.
He cherish those afternoons with his grandmother the paramount, with the shabby elegance,
the worn plush seats, faded velvet stay curtains, and roped-off balcony. He loved the cartoon, the previews of coming attractions, even the newsreels with their strident announcers and
portentous images of mushroom test clouds, hordes of Red Chinese, plug-ugly
strike breakers with billy clubs and revolvers. Willie Mays making a catch that couldn't be made.
Joe DiMaggio's picture- perfect swing, and Jackie Robinson stealing second. There was no
television reception in the mountains of God's Kingdom during Jim's high school years.
The sports clips on the newsreels at the Paramount were the closest he'd come to seeing
a major- league game".

This book really flows with dialogue and description combined. Simply a special novel!
ENJOY!

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Netgalley, and the terrific storyteller, Howard Frank Mosher

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two main characters here , our protagonist James Kinneson III , Jim who matures before our eyes , of course it's his story and the Reverend Dr. Pliny Templeton , long dead is also at the center of it . Maybe there's three because this place Kingdom, Vermont and everything about it is a character in its own right .

We meet Jim at age 14 in this first poignant tale of "Blooded" , about the ritual of getting your first deer. The next four years are depicted in stories around Jim Kinneson at various times and by various events and people that shape him as his family history is divulged. This is about good people with "trouble in the family" in the past . The Kinneson history holds an Indian massacre , a murder and the things that Jim discovers at the end .

There's tragedy, baseball, town feuds, racial prejudice , family ties , and so much more packed into this short book as we see Jim come of age . There are characters to care about , Jim , of course and there's Gramps , one of my favorites. It's funny at times and sad at others . The tale of the two Mooses will break your heart as will the fate of a young French Canadian boy .

All the while we read these stories, the Reverend Dr. Pliny Templeton is watching over it all introducing each story with a passage from his "History of King County ", and the story of his life as a slave looms in the background. I was left wanting more - not from the writing which held me captive , not from these characters but just more of it. I had not heard of Howard Frank Mosher before l read this but it won't be the last book of his that I read - that's for sure .

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.
A special thanks to my Goodreads friend Elyse , without whom I would not have found this book .

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

God's Kingdom, Vermont just over the border from Canada. The story of the Kinnesons told not in a straightforward narrative but rather like snapshots. Stories told to a young Jim Kinneson who wants to be a reporter, a long family history that covers, whiskey still and prohibition, slavery, a horrible fire, the KKK, the fight to form a union, hunting and fishing trips with his grandfather, competitive baseball games, basketball, triumphs and sorrows are all part of a long history.

Told in vivid and colorful prose this little novel is captivating. There is even a little mystery concerning the death of the founder of their school and his murder at the hands of his best friend, a forebear of Jim. Dr. Pliny Templeton, a reverend, a man escaping slavery who is befriended by said forbear. His skeleton hangs in the school science lab and serves different purposes depending on the person. There is sadness and compassion, wonderful relationships and first love. Some wonderful characters that manage to get into your hearts and much on small town life. A family and a town with a long history and colorful past. A very good story.

ARC from Netgalley.

[Marialyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both my husband and I enjoyed this book.

This was a wonderful story of family and coming of age of a young man, Jim Kinneson. Jim learns the history of his family and though it takes many twists and turns, the warmth and love is so apparent. Using the background of life on the Maine/Canadian border, the author invokes the beauty of nature, family,and roots that trace back many years. As we learn of the family and its ancestors, we begin to understand relationships within the family and people living within the community of Kingdom. The author portrays a loving unit but one that does contain secrets and memories of days gone by.

Mr Mosher is a masterful storyteller and his style is one I would classify as peaceful. His imagery and descriptive verse are both beautiful and lovely creating in the reader's mind such wonderful scenes of Kingdom and its residents. Loving family and establishing relationships brings Jim the young heir, to a journey as both an ending and a new beginning.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-crafted tale of a budding writer growing up in the 50s in a remote rural community in northeastern Vermont known as the “Northeast Kingdom” or just “The Kingdom”. It continues the journals of young Jim Kinneson that started with Moser’s wonderful “A Stranger in the Kingdom”, which I read over a decade ago (published in 1989, or a 25 year gap). Jim at 15 has the benefits of a tight, loving family, including a warm, wise mother, a father who is a liberal newspaper editor, and an older brother who is a defense lawyer interested in social justice, each with their own sense of humor. However, the family has a dark history and secrets that present an alluring mystery for Jim. In the opening section, at a traditional family outing at their hunting and fishing camp, his grandfather anoints him with the mission to tell the stories of the Kingdom as a writer. The stories that he records are a mix of ones that he experiences himself and older ones that speak to corruption, crimes, and discrimination that involve his family as villains or heroes.

The founder of their clan in the region participated in a slaughter of Abenaki Indians in the 18th century, but returned to settle there and came to marry an Indian woman as part of an apparent personal penance. He initiated the family distillery business, which Jim comes to realize contributed to alcoholism of whites and Indians alike over the generations to his present day. Another if his ancestors in the 19th century became an abolitionist and declared secession from the U.S. over slavery, eventually leading to his death by federal troops. Closer to home, Jim’s great grandfather gave refuge to a former runaway slave, Pliny, and later, when he became an educated minister, helped him establish the very school Jim attends. But this forbear ended up killing Pliny in some dispute over school policy. That is the mystery Jim is most interested in solving, and one he reminded of every day by his skeleton kept by the school for education as a form of mascot.

Thus, you can see there are some quirky characters and skeletons in the closet. We are immersed in stories from Jim’s own life along the way that do much to reveal the special cohesiveness of this rural community, which Moser admits are drawn from his 50 years of residence in The Kingdom. The warmth of this rendering is irresistible. It has some of the same flavor as other authors who are masters in evoking a sense of place, such as Kent Haruf with his fictional Holt, Colorado, and Wendell Berry with Port Jefferson, Kentucky. The fishing adventures are reminiscent of those in Norman Maclean’s “A River Runs Through It.” You can tell Moser loves his characters, even the villains.
A rail-thin woman in her late seventies with a mannish jaw, a broad forehead, hands like hay hooks, and small black eyes that missed nothing. Miss Hark surveyed the class bleakly.
“Algebra Two …is not metal shop. Algebra Two is not Physical Education. In Algebra Two we will not be playing math games or any games.”

She is particularly brutal in shaming Jim’s friend, a French-Canadian sharecropper’s son that Jim’s family has hired. The outcome for this boy is pretty tragic, but Jim makes sure that justice is achieved for the old witch. Jim also succeeds in contributing to the solving of the mystery of his ancestor’s murder to his friend the black headmaster, and the outcome is quite a satisfying surprise. Like Moser himself, Jim is obviously on his way to becoming a successful writer through harnessing the stories of his town and that of his own adventures. I look forward to other books by Mosher I have collected, some of which have been made into films.

This book was provided by the publisher as an ebook through the Netgalley program.

[Esil · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are not religious, no need to worry that God's Kingdom is a religious book. It's actually a book of interconnected stories set in a fictitious place called God's Kingdom, in Kingdom County, Vermont on the border with Canada. The stories take place in the 1950s, and are told from the perspective of teenage Jim Kinneson, an aspiring writer whose family has lived in the region for many years. Mosher's understated writing and deceptively simple storytelling grew on me, and made for a lovely rich reading experience. I can't pinpoint what I liked about the book, but in no particular order, these are the highlights: a deep respect for the natural world of northern Vermont, a rich cultural and historical tapestry including French Canada, abolitionists and escaped slaves, a savvy depiction of small town politics, larger than life family lore and lots of great characters -- including Jim's grandfather and father. I liked some stories more than others. There's a particularly powerful story about a French Canadian boy accused of cheating in math at the school. But all of the stories are solidly held together through Jim, and his connection to everyone depicted -- Jim is somewhat self-effacing but ultimately controls the stories and our access to this world, as Mosher likes to playfully remind the reader. I understand that this is not the first book Mosher has written set in Kingdom County. Based on this one, I would happily read his previous books. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a partial history of Kingdom County, Vermont, told in a series of beautifully crafted short stories. Although it is called a novel, there is no overall plot. The stories are linked by time (1950s), characters, place and theme and are told by Jim Kinneson between the ages of 14 and 18. The history of the Kinneson family is inseparable from that of God's Kingdom. The members of the Kinneson family have been farmers, abolitionists, whiskey brewers and Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper editors. God's Kingdom has also been the home of Native Americans and former slaves. Among them was Dr. Pliny Templeton, a former slave, Presbyterian minister and educator, who wrote a history of Kingdom County.

The stories are touching, eloquent, funny and serious and deal with life, death, race and identity. They only really lost me when they dealt with hunting and fishing. Those subjects were important to Jim's development, but I just hate reading about them and they bore me. That aside, I enjoyed this book very much.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second Howard Frank Mosher novel. After reading A Stranger in the Kingdom from 1989, I was impressed with Mosher's storytelling skills. I can't believe it took me so long to read another one of his novels.

Like A Stranger in the Kingdom, this Kinneson family story is brought to you from fictional Kingdom County, Vermont and based around Jim Kinneson as he grows through his teens in the 1950's. It is filled with stories of the Kinneson family, of humor, of small town life, of beauty, of prejudice and acceptance and of love and sadness. Although the two books are wonderful alone, I'm thankful that I read A Stranger first as I felt like I was returning to visit old friends in this beautifully written book.

[Steven Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emotional read.

The ability to write a story that evokes so many feelings will keep me wanting more. Get back to work Howard Frank, I will be waiting.

[Carol Royce Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many years ago I was at a conference where Howard Frank Mosher was the keynote speaker. I didn't know of his works, but came away in awe when he said that he would often revisemany of his manuscripts as often as 50 times by hand - no computer. As I read God's Kingdom, his newest novel, I was reminded of this as lines jumped out at me that were so beautifully written, flowing as effortlessly as the waters in the rivers that run through God's Kingdom.

Jim Kinneson III is the son of Editor Charlie Kinneson and grandson to James Kinneson II. Everyone in his family knows he is the storyteller of the family, even though he's from generations of editors of the Kingdom County Monitor. But as his grandfather explains, "You're the storyteller in the family. I'm a newspaperman. I can't make anything up. Or leave anything out. From the time you could spell cat you were inventing stories...if you can't make things up, there's no story. But leaving things out is pretty important, too. If you can't leave things out, nobody'll read what you can write." For this reason, people tell Jim stories, which he shares with us; stories that have been buried for years, stories of his heritage, stories that show the complicated meshing of family histories, some joyful, some tragic, and some horribly macabre. And through each of these stories, we see the emergence of a young man coming of age, knowing what he wants for his future, but more importantly wanting answers to the hidden mysteries that have plagued his family's history for generations. The view we get through these stories is not one in which the writer paints every story for his family's glory, but in truthfulness, whether complimentary to his predecessors or not, which is what makes the stories so believable.

[Donald Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first Mosher book I read, back in the mid-nineties, was A Stranger in the Kingdom, and have longed for another by him that rivals it. This (God's Kingdom) was pretty close, and it involves the same characters as Stranger.

I was a little disappointed early in the book... it seemed like just a collection of chapter-long short stories, with no overarching connection. Interesting short stories, and fun to read, but this book was billed as a novel. I wasn't seeing it. (Yes, the characters were the same from chapter to chapter, but there was no clear plot connecting them.) But the deeper I delved into the book, the more the stories started to connect. The ending caught me by surprise.

Beyond the theme of the book, Mosher is always excellent at painting a picture of life in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont back in the 1950s, when life was simpler - but not always benign. On the surface, the daily activities of the Kinneson family are like a late 1950s / early 1960s issue of Vermont Life magazine, full of fishing, hunting, farming, baseball, and small town life. But Mosher also depicts the pettiness and prejudices of small towns in a way that I recognize all too well after living in neighboring northern New Hampshire for a quarter century. (And, I suppose, not so different from small towns everywhere. Or suburbs, or cities, for that matter.)

I still rate Stranger as my favorite, maybe because it was so fresh and different when I read it. But this book is excellent, nonetheless.

[Ronald Koltnow · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be published by St. Martin's Press 6 October 2015

Howard Frank Mosher makes it all look easy. This deceptively simple novel about a young man's coming of age, encumbered by the weight of his family history, seems at times to be a memoir. Young Jim Kinneson goes hunting, goes fishing, plays baseball, falls in love, meets with life and tragedy. That is the story. Yet few writers could imbue this with the wisdom. the wit, the passion that Mosher does, and has been doing since DISAPPEARANCES in 1977. At times GOD'S KINGDOM, another name for the Northeast Kingdom that provides the setting for all of Mosher's work, recalls the Hemingway of "The Big Two-Hearted River." I have always said that Howard is New England's William Faulkner, with the Kingdom sitting in for Yoknapatawpha County. There are a handful of writers(of a certain age, I might add) -- Mosher, McMurtry, Craig Nova -- who never get the respect they deserve. They, not the MFA hotshots, are our true cultural treasures. One could not say that GOD'S KINGDOM is Howard's best book; Howard has written several best books, but this should win him a legion of new fans. American fiction simply does not get better than this.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a 3.5 read for me.

A skillfully paced novel about one young man’s reckoning with his family’s past and his duty for the truth as he stays true to himself. This story follows the Kinneson family since their arrival in the Northeastern part of Vermont in the 1600’s but is mostly the story of Jim Kinneson who turned fourteen in 1952 and begins to write down family stories that has been passed down to him. In this quest, he encounters situations and people that at times differ with the perceived history and stories. This journey reveals the highlights the presence and contributions of a diverse group of people – escaped slaves, French Canadians and Native Americans – whose voices are often left out of storytelling.
I so enjoy a book that places me in particular time and place. The author’s lush vivid description of the land – showcasing its majesty and challenges, makes for an incomparable reading experience.
This is a familiar drama at its best with its wry observations, genuine characters, and captivating landscape. This is my first time regarding this author but it will not be my last and this book has also inspired me to visit this region to experience it firsthand.
I recommend this book to readers of multigenerational sagas and regional fiction.

[Sestearns · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny, poignant set of tales about a boy growing up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in the 1950s and learning about his family's and his close-knit community's history. Book comes out in October 2015.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I love Howard Frank Mosher's stories of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. They are tragicomic--heart-wrenching at times but often very funny. This is a collection of interrelated stories about the coming-of-age of Jim Kinneson, future writer.

[Nann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mosher's interconnected stories about Jim Kinneson and his family are wonderful. They are told from Jim's adolescent point of view overlaid by his middle-aged omniscience. Mosher evokes "place" in the achingly poignant style of Wendell Berry, Jon Hassler, and Garrison Keillor.

[MaryAnn]

First the title intrigued me, then I was captured by the story. It's a coming of age, generational, small town/community kind of tale. Set in rural Vermont on the Canadian border, the narrative unfolds with the boy Jim telling various family stories and revealing historical events, some of which are unsettling and unflattering to the family.

[Mary Huissen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Now I want to read the two books that came before this one. Out of order, but no matter

[Stephen Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

In God’s Kingdom, Howard Mosher has continued to develop the rich, nourishing landscape of Kingdom Common, Vermont, teasing a series of morality plays from the beautiful and sometimes savage world about which he writes with such deep passion and authority. There are scenes that elicit powerful and unexpected emotion and others – like the chapter about the local baseball ‘players’ “Moose,” and “Mike-the-moose,” a real moose who attempts to steal first base—that are truly laugh-out-loud funny. Though I have read Mosher for thirty years, it was through reading God’s Kingdom that I realized he is not just preserving a people and a world that are fast-slipping away from us, but perhaps even more importantly he is speaking to a collective unconscious that we all share in the here and now. His archetypal elements of his stories are immediately relevant, and his greatest gift to us is that we will always be able to access, appreciate and fold them into our daily lives. His marvelous, monstrous, foibled characters are us, though we may not outwardly appear quite so eccentric as the inhabitants of God’s (wondrous) Kingdom.



Mosher’s celebrations of the north woods, meadows and waters, the fauna and flowers and their unique seasons are joys to behold. His love of unspoiled nature that continues to fall prey to greedy, callous development is a clarion call for all of us to urgently support efforts to conserve and preserve our land, lakes and heritage. Mosher’s ‘God’ only made one beautiful earth, whether it’s Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, the spectacular Michigan lake region, the grand redwood forests of the Northwest, or the intoxicating and mysterious Mississippi bayous. It seems to me his challenge to us is not to just sit back in our easy chairs and read about these places, but to do something about protecting them.



I greatly admire Mosher’s precise and all-encompassing pen, his tremendous generosity of spirit, and his seemingly boundless creativity. He ‘sees’ and writes with uncanny wisdom, humor, and emotional clarity, and he never loses sight of what he oft says at his reading, that ‘the best stories are always love stories.’ Thank God for the literary treasure that is Howard Frank Mosher and for making just one special, limited edition of him, after which I’m sure He was exhausted beyond all measure.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there are some good concepts to build a story line in this book, the overall execution or delivery fell short for me. James (Jim) Kinneson III wants to be a writer and pursues the historical facts and truths about his family, community and geograph history. Set in God's Kingdom on the borders of Canada, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, the area is rich in history of the Underground Railroad of slaves. An escaped slave, Pliny Templeton, from a tobacco plantation in Kentucky chops off his handcuffed hand to travel to New Orleans to find his wife who has been sold. Pliny meets Charles Kinneson II who brings Pliny to God's Kingsom. Pliny receives an education through McGill college and establishes the Kingdom Common Academy and many other schools in the south for emancipated slaves. Pliny establishes a scholarship and donates his skelton to the science room.
Take by tale, Jim learns about the conflict of whites with the Abenaki Indians, emancipated slaves and abolitionists locked inside a church and burned by the KKK, the great fire of 1882 in New Canaan, a dam created on the Upper Kingdom River to cover the evidence, prohibition, and the racial mixing of black, Indian and white blood.
There a couple of lovely sub-stories of Jim hunting for a ten-point deer and fishing for a 20" brown trout with his grandfather. Both events are Jim's rites of passage. In each case Jim "has" the animal but let's it go.
Again, good threads or themes; however, the spinning of the tale didn't capture me.

[J.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading a novel by Howard Frank Mosher is like sitting down for a chat with an old and valued friend. I've been a fan since reading his first novel, Disappearances.
This latest in his output is no disappointment.
God's Kingdom (northeast Vermont) is told from the viewpoint of Jim Kinneson, a budding young writer in the 1950s, who absorbs the history of his family from their arrival in the territory in the 1750s down to his time through stories told by his beloved grandfather and others. Hovering always in the background is a family secret that haunts his father and grandfather.
The stories of his quirky characters shaped by the environment and their experiences are entertaining in and of themselves. But Mosher brings in additional elements in a coming of age story that is much more. We empathize with Jim's development as a person, his hunting and fishing adventures, his love of baseball, his schooling and early attempts at writing and, finally, his introduction to the mystery of love. Oh, and he does finally unravel that family secret.
Mosher tramps familiar ground in this short novel, but it's an intriguing and altogether enjoyable journey.

[Arlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stumbled upon this at the library and decided to give it a go. After about fifty pages it really started to click. A wonderful book about how we record history and inter familial relationships. The back drop is rural Vermont mid 20th century as viewed from the teenage boy in the family.
There's a small scene in the book where one of his family members is rewriting the bible and omitting things she doesn't like and adding stuff she'd rather see. While it's a small scene it is somewhat of a metaphor for what unfolds in the book.

[Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is always a pleasure to submerse myself in Howard Frank Mosher’s Vermont and his lush and evocative descriptions of the “Kingdom”. His Northeast Kingdom novels are filled with well told stories and well drawn characters. There are moments of humor, tragedy, love, and sadness as we watch Jim Kinnison come of age. Another outstanding book in this series.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

[Linda Gaines · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Mosher's books about Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. The closeness of the people remind me of Wendell Berry's Port William community. Jim Kinneson studies the family lore of the past and finds lots of prejudice and violence but also people standing up for justice and love.
He goes hunting and fishing with father and grandfather but he can't kill the mighty buck or catch the rainbow trout (to be mounted on a wall --its beautiful colors fading away).

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautifully told coming-of-age story set in Vermont (God's Kindgom) in the 1950s. I loved so much about this book, from the history of the Kinneson family to the examples of "choosing to do the right thing" to the love stories and the haunting tragedies.

Won through Goodreads and highly recommended for lovers of historical fiction.

[Melissa Acuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

God's Kingdom may be Howard Frank Mosher's best book since A Stranger in the Kingdom. Every sentence in this book is perfectly crafted and draw the reader back to rural Vermont during a time of change in the 1950's.

This is a book that will resonate for generations.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy this as much as I expected to. Usually I love books set in the remoter parts of the US – in this case north-eastern Vermont – but I found this novel, which is really a series of linked vignettes rather than a sustained narrative, although interesting from an historical point of view, with its cast of white settlers, Native Americans, French-Canadians and escaped slaves from both the past and the present, somehow fell flat in its characterisation, and I failed to engage with any of the protagonists. The novel centres around the Kinneson family, long-time residents, and in particular on Jim Kinneson, whose coming-of-age we chart here. There’s much to enjoy about small town life here, (although rather more about baseball and hunting than I would have liked) and overall it’s an evocative and atmospheric portrait of a community and family, but somehow it just didn’t work for me.

[Ioana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an incredible book! How have I never come across Howard Frank Mosher's books before?! The story is set in God's Kingdom, Vermont, and is a coming-of-age tale mixed with a frank look at racism's ugly footprint in New England. Mosher's use of language of luxurious, rich, vivid - I had to sometimes re-read sentences several times just to fully experience (taste? feel?) the metaphors and adjectives. The stories are warm and heart-felt - some make you laugh, some make you angry and disappointed in humanity as a whole, and some had completely unexpected twists that make you shift your perspective in interesting ways. All in all, a great story. I predict Mr. Mosher will pop up on my reading list again in the near future.

[Diana Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Howard Frank Mosher's books, but if you are new to this northern Vermont author I would suggest starting with Stranger in the Kingdom, perhaps followed by On Kingdom Mountain and God's Kingdom. Those three novels create a nice trilogy. To me, they are a visit home to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, whose various villages, landscapes and inhabitants are gently remolded into Mosher's Kingdom County. But even if you've never set foot in my beloved Green Mountain State, I think that you will find his stories compellingly told and peopled with characters that feel at once unique and familiar.